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involvement it has fostered. The planning process should proceed 

 without further congressional intervention and without the 

 encumbrances of Section 705 (a) and Section 705 (d) , or the long- 

 term contracts. Therefore, we support Section 104 of S. 346 that 

 directs the Secretary of Agriculture to terminate the long-term 

 contracts no later than 90 days after enactment. 



The following sections outline briefly the constraints 

 imposed by the long-term contracts. These constraints must be 

 removed to assure that the Tongass' bountiful timber and non- 

 timber resources can be managed in the public interest. 



Forest Management 



The two long-term timber contracts granted the purchasers 

 unprecedented control over the management of the Tongass National 

 Forest. 



In 1976 when NFMA was enacted, there were significant 

 differences between the long-term and new, short-term sales on 

 the Tongass. For example the long-term sales allow for an 

 exceptional degree of purchaser control over harvesting terms, 

 while purchasers of other, short-term sales on the Tongass are 

 limited to areas and terms the Forest service sets for each sale. 

 This purchaser control allows the long-term contract holdfer — 

 not the Forest Service — to select which areas to log, when to 

 log, or whether to simply refuse to log areas they find 

 economically unattractive. Short-term purchasers have no such 

 discretion. 



The long-term timber sale contracts on the Tongass prevent 

 sound management and planning for the future of national 

 forestlands. Briefly, the long-term contracts cause the 

 following impediments to proper management of the Tongass: 



o Requirement of sale (or release) of a fixed amount 

 of timber regardless of actual market demand. 



o Requirement to offer for sale sensitive areas that 

 might otherwise be reserved from harvesting, such 

 as Lisianski River, Kadashan River, and Nutkwa 

 River. 



o Discretion afforded purchaser to select among 



timber stands within its allotment and cut only 

 the best timber stands, thus "high-grading" the 

 timber resource. 



o Separate planning process for long-term contracts 

 that interferes with the NFMA planning process and 

 enforcement of the National Environmental Policy 



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